Transmission management apparatus, transmission system, transmission management method and recording medium

ABSTRACT

A transmission management apparatus for managing a session performing transmission/reception of content data via a relay apparatus includes a service information management unit configured to manage service management information in which service identification information identifying service content provided to each of a plurality of transmission terminals, and service content corresponding to the service identification information are stored preliminarily; a service identification information acquisition unit configured to acquire service identification information of each of the transmission terminals participating in the session; a service content determination unit configured to determine the service content of the session, based on the service identification information acquired by the service identification information acquisition unit and the service management information; and a session control unit configured to report session information based on the service content of the session determined by the service content determination unit to the relay apparatus.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. §119of Japanese Patent Application No. 2015-045670, filed Mar. 9, 2015. Thecontents of this application are incorporated herein by reference intheir entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The disclosures herein generally relate to a transmission managementapparatus, a transmission system, a transmission management method and acomputer readable recording medium storing a program for causing acomputer to execute a process.

2. Description of the Related Art

An example of a transmission system that transmits or receives contentdata between a plurality of transmission terminals via a relay apparatusincludes a videoconference system that carries out a videoconference orthe like via a communication network such as the Internet. There is anincreasing need for such videoconference systems according to a requestfor reduction in business trip costs and time in recent years. In such avideoconference system, a plurality of videoconference terminals, whichare examples of transmission terminals, are used. A videoconference canbe carried out by transmission or reception of image data and sound dataamong these videoconference terminals (See, for example, JapaneseUnexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2008-227577).

In such a transmission system, according to recent improvement ofbroadband circumstances, it becomes possible to transmit/receivehigh-quality image data or high-quality sound data. Accordingly, itbecomes easier to detect the circumstances of a communication partner ina videoconference, and hence conversation-based communication becomesmore productive. However, a communication terminal may be used fordifferent applications or purposes. It is not necessarily preferablethat all transmission terminals carry out the transmission of image dataor sound data with the setting of high image quality and high soundquality.

For example, in a case of using a transmission terminal for remotemedicine, in order to send an image of an affected part of a patient toa remote place, image data are preferably high quality. In contrast, ina case of using a communication terminal for a videoconference systemfor merely conveying a message or monitoring a video of a monitoringcamera with a relatively low image quality, image data are notnecessarily of high image quality. In this way, in a case of carryingout data transmission with the setting of high image quality and highsound quality for applications or purposes that do not require highimage quality, a communication band of the transmission system may benarrowed, and data transmission of a transmission terminal whichrequires high image quality, a cost or the like may be affected.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is a general object of at least one embodiment of the presentinvention to provide transmission management apparatus, a transmissionsystem, a transmission management method and a recording medium thatsubstantially obviate one or more problems caused by the limitations anddisadvantages of the related art.

In one embodiment, a transmission management apparatus manages a sessionperforming transmission/reception of content data via a relay apparatus.The transmission management apparatus includes a service informationmanagement unit configured to manage service management information inwhich service identification information identifying service contentprovided to each of a plurality of transmission terminals and servicecontent corresponding to the service identification information arestored preliminarily; a service identification information acquisitionunit configured to acquire service identification information of each oftransmission terminals participating in the session; a service contentdetermination unit configured to determine service content of thesession, based on the service identification information acquired by theservice identification information acquisition unit and the servicemanagement information; and a session control unit configured to reportsession information based on the service content of the sessiondetermined by the service content determination unit to the relayapparatus.

In another embodiment, a transmission system includes a transmissionmanagement apparatus, a relay apparatus, and a plurality of transmissionterminals participating in a session performing transmission/receptionof content data via the relay apparatus. The transmission managementapparatus includes a service information management unit configured tomanage service management information in which service identificationinformation identifying service content provided to each of theplurality of transmission terminals, and service content correspondingto the service identification information are stored preliminarily; aservice identification information acquisition unit configured toacquire service identification information of each of transmissionterminals participating in the session; a service content determinationunit configured to determine service content of the session, based onthe service identification information acquired by the serviceidentification information acquisition unit and the service managementinformation; and a session control unit configured to report sessioninformation based on the service content of the session determined bythe service content determination unit to the relay apparatus. The relayapparatus includes a service content management unit configured toacquire and manage the session information received from thetransmission management apparatus; a transfer unit configured totransfer content data sent/received among the plurality of transmissionterminals in the session; and a quality changing unit configured tochange quality of the content data transferred by the transfer unit,based on the session information managed by the service contentmanagement unit.

In yet another embodiment, a non-transitory computer-readable recordingmedium stores a program for causing a computer to execute a process ofmanaging a session performing transmission/reception of content data viaa relay apparatus. The process includes managing service managementinformation in which service identification information identifyingservice content provided to each of a plurality of transmissionterminals, and service content corresponding to the serviceidentification information are stored preliminarily; acquiring serviceidentification information of each of transmission terminalsparticipating in the session; determining service content of thesession, based on the acquired service identification information andthe service management information; and reporting session informationbased on the determined service content of the session to the relayapparatus.

In yet another embodiment, a transmission management method for managinga session performing transmission/reception of content data via a relayapparatus is performed by a transmission management apparatus. Thetransmission management apparatus manages service management informationin which service identification information identifying service contentprovided to each of a plurality of transmission terminals and servicecontent corresponding to the service identification information arestored preliminarily. The method includes acquiring serviceidentification information of each of transmission terminalsparticipating in the session; determining service content of thesession, based on the acquired service identification information andthe service management information; and reporting session informationbased on the determined service content of the session to the relayapparatus.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other objects and further features of embodiments will become apparentfrom the following detailed description when read in conjunction withthe accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic view illustrating an example of a transmissionsystem according to embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example of a state oftransmission or reception of image data, sound data, and various typesof management information in the transmission system according to theembodiments;

FIGS. 3A to 3C are conceptual diagrams for explaining an example ofimage quality of image data according to the embodiments;

FIG. 4 is an external view illustrating an example of a terminalaccording to the embodiments;

FIG. 5 is a hardware configuration diagram illustrating an example ofthe terminal according to the embodiments;

FIG. 6 is a hardware configuration diagram illustrating an example of amanagement apparatus according to the embodiments;

FIG. 7 is a functional configuration diagram illustrating an example ofa transmission system according to a first embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram illustrating an example of a servicemanagement unit and a session management unit according to the firstembodiment;

FIG. 9 is a configuration diagram illustrating an example of a relaymanagement unit according to the first embodiment;

FIGS. 10A to 10C are conceptual diagrams illustrating an example ofrespective management tables managed in a management apparatus accordingto the first embodiment;

FIGS. 11A to 11C are conceptual diagrams illustrating another example ofthe respective management tables managed in the management apparatusaccording to the first embodiment;

FIG. 12 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example of a servicecontent management table according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an operation ofestablishing a communication session in the management apparatusaccording to the first embodiment;

FIG. 14 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of an operation ina preparation stage for the transmission system according to the firstembodiment;

FIG. 15 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of an operation ofa communication session in the transmission system according to thefirst embodiment;

FIG. 16 is a sequence diagram illustrating another example of theoperation of the communication session in the transmission systemaccording to the first embodiment;

FIG. 17 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example of a servicemanagement table according to a second embodiment;

FIG. 18 is a functional configuration diagram illustrating an example ofa transmission system according to the second embodiment;

FIG. 19 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example of a servicepriority management table according to the second embodiment;

FIG. 20 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of an operation ofa communication session in the transmission system according to thesecond embodiment;

FIG. 21 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an operation ofdetermining a service content of a session according to the secondembodiment; and

FIGS. 22A to 22C are diagrams illustrating an example of service contentcommonly usable according to the embodiments.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In the following, embodiments of the present invention will be describedwith reference to the accompanying drawings.

<System Configuration>

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a transmission system according to theembodiments. FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a state oftransmission or reception of image data, sound data, and various typesof management information in the transmission system. FIGS. 3A to 3C areconceptual diagrams for explaining image quality of image data accordingto the embodiments.

The transmission system includes a data provision apparatus, whichtransmits unidirectionally content data from one transmission terminalto the other transmission terminal via a transmission managementapparatus, and a communication system, which transfers bidirectionallyinformation, emotion, or the like among a plurality of transmissionterminals via a transmission management apparatus. The communicationsystem transfers information, emotion, or the like in two directionsamong a plurality of communication terminals (corresponding to the“transmission terminals”) via a communication management apparatus(corresponding to the “transmission management apparatus”). Thecommunication system is, for example, a video conference system or avideo telephone system.

In the embodiments, a video conference system as an example of thecommunication system, a video conference management system as an exampleof the communication management system and a video conference terminalas an example of the communication terminal are assumed. Furthermore, atransmission system, a transmission management apparatus and atransmission terminal will be explained. That is, the transmissionterminal and the transmission management apparatus according toembodiments of the present invention are applied not only to a videoconference system, but also to a communication system or a transmissionsystem.

First, the transmission system 1, as shown in FIG. 1, includes aplurality of terminals (10 aa, 10 ab, . . . ), display devices for eachof the terminals (120 aa, 120 ab, . . . ), a plurality of relayapparatuses (30 a, 30 b, 30 c, and 30 d), a transfer managementapparatus 50, a program provision apparatus 90, a maintenance apparatus100 and the like. Moreover, the terminals (10 aa, 10 ab, . . . ) performtransmission by sending/receiving image data and sound data as anexample of content data.

In the following, a “transmission terminal” will be simply denoted as a“terminal”, and a “transmission management apparatus” will be simplydenoted as a “management apparatus”. Moreover, an arbitrary terminal ofthe terminals (10 aa, 10 ab, . . . ) is denoted as a “terminal 10”. Anarbitrary display device of the display devices (120 aa, 120 ab . . . )is denoted as a “display device 120”. An arbitrary relay apparatus ofthe relay apparatuses (30 a, 30 b, 30 c, and 30 d) is denoted as a“relay apparatus 30”. Furthermore, a terminal as a request source, whichhas required starting the video conference, is denoted as a “requestsource terminal”. A terminal, which is a destination of the request(destination of the relay), is denoted as a “destination terminal”.

Moreover, as shown in FIG. 2, in the transmission system 1, between therequest source terminal and the destination terminal, a session formanagement information “sei” in order to send/receive various types ofmanagement information is established via the management apparatus 50.Moreover, between the request source terminal and the destinationterminal, four sessions in order to send/receive four data sets, i.e.image data in high resolution, image data in intermediate resolution,image data in low resolution and voice data, are established via therelay apparatus 30. In the present exemplary embodiment, the foursessions are collectively denoted as a session for image/voice data“sed”. Meanwhile, the session for image/voice data “sed” is notnecessarily four sessions, but the number of sessions may be greaterthan or less than four.

Next, a resolution of an image of image data processed in theembodiments will be explained. In the embodiments, as shown in FIG. 3A,an image, as a base image, including 160 pixels in the horizontaldirection and 120 pixels in the vertical direction will be called alow-resolution image. Moreover, as shown in FIG. 3B, an image including320 pixels in the horizontal direction and 240 pixels in the verticaldirection will be called an intermediate-resolution image. Furthermore,as shown in FIG. 3C, an image including 640 pixels in the horizontaldirection and 480 pixels in the vertical direction will be called ahigh-resolution image.

Among them, in a case of transmitting through a narrow band path(communication path having a narrow transmission bandwidth), image dataof low image quality including only low-resolution image data, as a baseimage, are relayed. Moreover, in a case where the bandwidth isrelatively wide, image data of intermediate image quality includinglow-resolution image data, as a base image, and intermediate-resolutionimage data are relayed. Furthermore, in a case where the bandwidth isquite wide, image data of high image quality including low-resolutionimage data as a base image, intermediate-resolution image data andhigh-resolution image data are relayed.

The relay apparatus 30, shown in FIG. 1, relays content data between theterminals 10. The management apparatus 50 manages in an integratedfashion a login authentication process from the terminal 10, a status ofspeech of the terminal 10, the destination list, a status of thecommunication of the relay apparatus 30, or the like. Moreover, an imageof the image data may be a moving picture, a still image, or both amoving picture and a still image.

A plurality of routers (70 a, 70 b, 70 c, 70 d, 70 ab and 70 cd) selectan optimal path to transmit the image data and voice data. In thefollowing, an arbitrary router of the routers (70 a, 70 b, 70 c, 70 d,70 ab and 70 cd) is denoted as a “router 70”.

The program provision apparatus 90 is equipped with a hard disk (HD)204, which will be explained later, and stores a program for theterminal, which enables various functions for the terminal 10, or makesthe terminal 10 function as various means. The program provisionapparatus 90 sends to the terminal 10 the program for the terminal 10.

Moreover, in the HD 204 of the program provision apparatus 90, a programfor the relay apparatus, which enables various functions for the relayapparatus 30, or makes the relay apparatus 30 function as various means,is also stored. The program provision apparatus 90 sends to the relayapparatus 30 the program for the relay apparatus 30. Furthermore, in theHD 204 of the program provision apparatus 90, a program for thetransmission management, which enables various functions for themanagement apparatus 50, or makes the management apparatus 50 functionas various means, is also stored. The program provision apparatus 90sends to the management apparatus 50 the program for the transmissionmanagement.

The maintenance apparatus 100 is a computer which maintains, manages ormaintains at least one of the terminal 10, the relay apparatus 30, themanagement apparatus 50 and the program provision apparatus 90. Forexample, assume that the maintenance apparatus 100 is installed in onecountry and the terminal 10, the relay apparatus 30, the managementapparatus 50 or the program provision apparatus 90 is installed out ofthe country. In this case, the maintenance apparatus 100 performs themaintenance processing of keeping, managing, maintaining, or the like,for at least one of the terminal 10, the relay apparatus 30, themanagement apparatus 50 and the program provision apparatus 90, remotelyvia the communication network 2. Moreover, the maintenance apparatus 100performs maintenance processing of managing a model number, a productionnumber, a sale destination, maintenance and inspection, a failurehistory or the like, for at least one of the terminal 10, the relayapparatus 30, the management apparatus 50, and the program provisionapparatus 90, without using the communication network 2.

The terminals (10 aa, 10 ab, 10 ac, . . . ), the relay apparatus 30 a,and the router 70 a are connected via a LAN (local area network) 2 a soas to communicate with each other. The terminals (10 ba, 10 bb, 10 bc, .. . ), the relay apparatus 30 b, and the router 70 b are connected via aLAN 2 b so as to communicate with each other. Moreover, the LAN 2 a andthe LAN 2 b are connected via a dedicated line 2 ab including a router70 ab so as to communicate with each other, and built in a predeterminedregion “A”. For example, the region “A” is Japan, and the LAN 2 a isbuilt in an office in Tokyo. Moreover, the region “B” is China, and theLAN 2 b is built in an office in China.

On the other hand, the terminals (10 ca, 10 cb, 10 cc, . . . ), therelay apparatus 30 c, and the router 70 c are connected via a LAN 2 c soas to communicate with each other. The terminals (10 da, 10 db, 10 dc, .. . ), the relay apparatus 30 d, and the router 70 d are connected via aLAN 2 d so as to communicate with each other. Moreover, the LAN 2 c andthe LAN 2 d are connected via a dedicated line 2 cd including a router70 cd so as to communicate with each other, and built in a predeterminedregion “B”. For example, the region “C” is the United States of America,and the LAN 2 c is built in an office in U.S. Moreover, the region “D”is Europe, and the LAN 2 d is built in an office in Europe. Therespective routers (70 a, 70 b, 70 c and 70 d) are connected via theInternet 2 i so as to communicate with each other.

Moreover, the management apparatus 50 and the program provisionapparatus 90 are connected to the terminals 10 and the relay apparatuses30 via the Internet 2 i. The management apparatus 50 and the programprovision apparatus 90 may be installed in the region “A”, in the region“B”, in the region “C” or in the region “D”, or may be installed outsidethese regions.

Meanwhile, the communication network 2, according to the embodiments,includes the LAN 2 a, the LAN 2 b, the Internet 2 i, the LAN 2 c and theLAN 2 d. The communication network 2 may include a section wherewireless communications, such as Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity, registeredtrademark) or Bluetooth (registered trademark), not only wiredcommunications, are performed.

Moreover, a combination of four integers, indicated below each of theterminals 10, the relay apparatuses 30, the management apparatus 50, therouters 70, and the program provision apparatus 90 in FIG. 1, representsan IP (Internet protocol) address in a simple form of IPv4. For example,the IP address of the terminal 10 aa is “1.2.1.3”. Moreover, IPv6 may beadopted instead of the IPv4, but the IPv4 is employed for simplicity inthe present exemplary embodiment.

Meanwhile, each of the terminals 10 may be used not only forcommunication between different offices or between different rooms inthe same office, but also for communication in the same room, betweenindoor and outdoor, or both outdoors. In a case where the terminal 10 isused outdoors, public wireless communication, such as using a mobilephone communication network or a public wireless LAN, is performed.

<Hardware Configuration>

Next, a hardware configuration in the embodiments will be described.

(External View of Terminal)

FIG. 4 is an external view illustrating the terminal 10 according to theembodiments. As shown in FIG. 4, the terminal 10 includes a chassis1100, an arm 1200 and a camera housing 1300. On a front side wallsurface 1110 of the chassis 1100, an intake surface (not shown) in whicha plurality of intake holes are formed is provided, and on a rear sidewall surface 1120 of the chassis 1100, an exhaust surface 1121 in whicha plurality of exhaust holes are formed is provided. According to theabove configuration, by driving a cooling fan embedded in the chassis1100, outside air in front of the terminal 10 can be taken in via theintake surface provided on the front side wall surface 1110 of thechassis 1100, and exhausted behind of the terminal 10 via the exhaustsurface 1121. On a right side wall surface 1130 of the chassis 1100, asound pickup hole 1131 is formed, and sound such as voice sound, noiseor the like can be picked up by a built-in microphone 114, which will bedescribed later.

On the side of the right side wall surface 1130 of the chassis 1100, anoperation panel 1150 is formed. The operation panel 1150 is providedwith a plurality of operation buttons (108 a to 108 e), which will bedescribed later, a power switch 109, which will be described later, andan alarm lamp 119, which will be described later. Furthermore, on theoperation panel 1150, a sound output surface 1151, in which a pluralityof sound output holes are formed for passing output sound from abuilt-in speaker 115, which will be described later, is formed.

Moreover, on the side of the left side wall surface 1140 of the chassis1100, there is a storage part 1160, which is a recessed part, forstoring the arm 1200 and the camera housing 1300. On the right side wallsurface of the chassis 1100, a plurality of connection ports (1132 a to1132 c) for connecting electrically a cable to an external device I/F118, which will be described later, are provided. On the other hand, ona left side wall surface 1140 of the chassis 1100, a connection port(not shown) for connecting electrically a cable 120 c for the displaydevice 120 to the external device I/F 118, which will be describedlater, is provided.

Meanwhile, in the following, in a case of indicating an arbitraryoperation button of the operation buttons (108 a to 108 e), “operationbutton 108” is used, and in a case of indicating an arbitrary connectionport of the connection ports (1132 a to 1132 c), “connection port 1132”is used for explanation.

Next, the arm 1200 is mounted on the chassis 1100 via a torque hinge1210. The arm 1200 is configured so that the arm 1200 is rotatablevertically where a tilt angle θ1 with respect to the chassis 1100 iswithin a range of 135 degrees. FIG. 4 illustrates the state where thetilt angle θ1 is 90 degrees. The camera housing 1300 is provided with abuilt-in camera 112, which will be described later. The built-in cameraimages a user, a paper document, a room or the like. Moreover, a torquehinge 1310 is formed on the camera housing 1300. The camera housing 1300is mounted on the arm 1200 via the torque hinge 1310. The camera housing1300 is rotatable vertically and horizontally where a pan angle θ2 withrespect to the arm 1200 is within a range of ±180 degrees (FIG. 4 showsthe state of 0 degrees), and a tilt angle θ3 is within a range of ±45degrees.

Meanwhile, the above-described external view of FIG. 4 is an example.The present invention is not limited to this external view. The terminal10 may be a general-purpose PC, a smartphone, a tablet type terminal orthe like. The camera and the microphone are not necessarily built-intypes, but may be external types. Moreover, since the managementapparatus 50 has the same external view as a typical server computer, anexplanation of the external view will be omitted.

(Hardware Configuration of Terminal)

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of theterminal 10 according to the embodiments. The terminal 10 includesconfigurations of a generic computer, for example, a CPU (centralprocessing unit) 101; a ROM (read-only memory) 102; a RAM (random accessmemory) 103; a flash memory 104; and an SSD (solid state drive) 105. Theterminal 10 further includes a medium drive 107; an operation button108; a power switch 109; a network I/F (interface) 111; a camera 112; animaging element I/F 113; a microphone 114; a speaker 115; a soundinput/output I/F 116. The terminal 10 further includes a display I/F117; an external device I/F 118; a bus 110 and the like.

The CPU 101 is, for example, a processing unit that reads out a programor data from the ROM 102, the flash memory 104 or the like and performsa process, to enable respective functions, with which the terminal 10 isprovided. The ROM 102 is a non-volatile memory that stores in advance aprogram or the like used for starting the CPU 101, such as an initialprogram loader (IPL). The RAM 103 is a volatile memory that is used as awork area or the like for the CPU 101.

The flash memory 104 is, for example, a storage device that stores anoperating system (OS), application programs, various types of data andthe like. The SSD 105 controls reading/writing various types of datafrom/to the flash memory 104 under control of the CPU 101. The mediumdrive 107 controls, for example, reading/writing (storage) data from/toa recording medium 106, such a memory card.

The operation button 108 is an input device that accepts an inputoperation by a user of the terminal 10. The power switch 109 is a switchfor turning ON/OFF a power of the terminal 10. The network I/F 111 is acommunication interface for performing data transmission by using thecommunication network 2.

The camera 112 includes an imaging element for capturing an image of asubject under control of the CPU 101. The imaging element I/F 113controls capturing by the camera 112 and converts captured data intopredetermined image data. The microphone 114 converts picked up soundinto an electric signal. The speaker 115 converts a voice signal intovoice and outputs the voice. The sound input/output I/F 116 controlsinput/output of voice by the microphone and the speaker 115.

The display I/F 117 transmits image data to an external display device120 under the control of the CPU 101. The external device I/F 118 is aninterface for connecting various types of external devices. The bus 110is commonly coupled to the above-described elements, and transmits anaddress signal, a data signal, various types of control signals, and thelike.

The display device 120 includes a liquid crystal display device (LCD),an organic electroluminescence (EL) display device, or the like, anddisplays an image of a subject, an icon for operation, or the like.Moreover, the display device 120 is coupled to the display I/F 117 bythe cable 120 c. The cable 120 c may be an analog red green blue (RGB)(video graphic array (VGA)) signal cable, a component video cable, ahigh-definition multimedia interface (HDMI (trademark registered))signal cable, or a digital video interactive (DVI) signal cable.

The camera 112 includes a lens and a solid-state imaging element thatconverts light into electric charges to digitize an image (video) of asubject. As the solid-state imaging element, for example, acomplementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) or a charge-coupleddevice (CCD) is used.

The external device I/F 118 is capable of connecting external devicessuch as an external camera, an external microphone and an externalspeaker, respectively, by using a Universal Serial Bus (USB) cable orthe like. In a case where an external camera is connected, the externalcamera is driven in preference to the built-in camera 112 under controlof the CPU 101. Similarly, in a case where an external microphone isconnected or an external speaker is connected, the external microphoneor the external speaker is driven in preference to the built-inmicrophone 114 or the built-in speaker 115 under control of the CPU 101.

Meanwhile, the recording medium 106 is, for example, a recording mediumsuch as various types of memory cards or a subscriber identity module(SIM) card. The recording medium 106 is detachable from the terminal 10.

Furthermore, the above-described program for the terminal 10 may bedistributed as a file in an installable form or in an executable formstored in a recording medium readable by a computer such as therecording medium 106. Moreover, the above-described program for theterminal 10 may be, for example, stored in the flash memory 104,preliminarily stored in the ROM 102 or the like.

(Hardware Configuration of Management Apparatus)

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of themanagement apparatus according to the embodiments. The managementapparatus 50 includes elements of a typical computer, for example, a CPU201; a ROM 202; a RAM 203; an HD 204; a HDD (hard disk drive) 205; amedium drive 207 and a display unit 208. Moreover, the managementapparatus 50 includes a network I/F (interface) 209; a keyboard 211; amouse 212; an optical disk 214, a bus 210 or the like.

The CPU 201 is, for example, a processing unit that reads out a programor data from the ROM 202, the HD 204 or the like and performs a process,to enable respective functions, with which the management apparatus 50is provided. The ROM 202 is a non-volatile memory that preliminarilystores a program or the like used for starting the CPU 201, such as anIPL. The RAM 203 is a volatile memory that is used as a work area or thelike for the CPU 201.

The HD 204 is a storage device that stores programs such as an OS orapplication programs and various types of data. The HDD 205 controlsreading/writing of various types of data from/to the HD 204 undercontrol of the CPU 201. The display unit 208 is a display means fordisplaying various types of information such as a cursor, a menu, awindow, characters or an image.

The network I/F 209 is a communication interface for performing datatransmission by using the communication network 2. The keyboard 211 isan example of an input device for accepting a user's input operation forinputting characters, a numerical value, various types of instructionsor the like. The mouse 212 is an example of a pointing device foraccepting a user's operation of selection or execution of various typesof instructions, selection of a process object, movement of a cursor orthe like.

The medium drive 207 controls, for example, reading/writing (storage) ofdata from/to a recording medium 206, such as a memory card. The opticaldrive 214 controls reading/writing of data from/to various types ofoptical disks 213, as an example of a detachable recording medium. Thebus 210 couples electrically the above-described elements, and transmitsan address signal, a data signal, various types of control signals andthe like.

Meanwhile, the hardware configuration of the above-described computer isan example. For example, the display unit 208, the keyboard 211, themouse 212 or the like may be provided externally outside the managementapparatus 50.

Meanwhile, the above-described program for the management apparatus 50may be distributed as a file in an installable form or in an executableform stored in a recording medium readable by a computer such as theabove-described recording medium 206, an optical disk 213 or the like.Moreover, the above-described program for the management apparatus 50may be, for example, stored in the HD 204, preliminarily stored in theROM 202 or the like.

Moreover, since the relay apparatus 30 has the same hardwareconfiguration as the above-described management apparatus 50, anexplanation will be omitted. However, a program for the relay apparatusfor controlling the relay apparatus 30 is stored in the HDD 204. Also inthis case, the program for the relay apparatus may be distributed as afile in an installable form or in an executable form stored in arecording medium readable by a computer, such as the recording medium206, the optical disk 213 or the like. The program for the relayapparatus may be stored in the HD 204, preliminarily stored in the ROM202 or the like.

Furthermore, since the program provision apparatus 90 and themaintenance apparatus 100 have the same hardware configuration as themanagement apparatus 50, an explanation will be omitted. However, aprogram for controlling the program provision apparatus 90 is stored inthe HDD 204. Also in this case, the program for the program provisionapparatus 90 may be distributed as a file in an installable form or inan executable form stored in a recording medium readable by a computer,such as the recording medium 206, the optical disk 213 or the like. Theprogram for the program provision apparatus 90 may be stored in the HDD,preliminarily stored in the ROM 202 or the like.

Next, a functional configuration of the transmission system 1 will bedescribed.

First Embodiment Functional Configuration

FIG. 7 is a functional configuration diagram illustrating a transmissionsystem according to a first embodiment. In FIG. 7, the transmissionsystem 1 includes the terminal 10, the relay apparatus 30 and themanagement apparatus 50, which are connected so as to perform datacommunications via the communication network 2. Moreover, the programprovision apparatus 90, shown in FIG. 1, is not relevant to thecommunication for the video conference directly, and is omitted in FIG.7.

(Functional Configuration of Terminal)

The terminal 10 includes a transmission/reception unit 11; an operationinput acceptance unit 12; a communication control unit 13; an imagingunit 14, a sound input unit 15 a, a sound output unit 15 b, a displaycontrol unit 16, a storage/readout unit 17, and the like. Each of theabove units is a function or a functioning means enabled by any of therespective components, shown in FIG. 5, operating according to aninstruction from the CPU 101 following the program for the terminal 10,which has been copied from the flash memory 104 onto the RAM 103.Moreover, the terminal 10 includes a storage unit 1000, enabled by theRAM 103 shown in FIG. 5 and the flash memory 104 shown in FIG. 5.Furthermore, in the terminal 10, a recording medium 1010 comprising therecording medium 106, shown in FIG. 5, is inserted, and reading orwriting various types of data is performed by the storage/readout unit17.

(Functional Configuration of Terminal)

Next, the functional configuration of the terminal 10 will be explainedin detail. Meanwhile, in the following, in the explanation of therespective functions of the terminal 10, a relationship with the maincomponent, which enables the respective functions of the terminal 10,among the respective components shown in FIG. 5, also will be described.

The transmission/reception unit 11 is enabled by the instruction fromthe CPU 101 shown in FIG. 5 and the network I/F 111, shown in FIG. 5,and sends various data (or information) to and receives various data (orinformation) from other terminals, other apparatuses, or other systems,via the communication network 2. The transmission/reception unit 11starts receiving, for example, before starting communicating with anintended destination terminal, status information indicating a status ofeach of the terminals as candidates of destination, from the managementapparatus 50. Meanwhile, the status information indicates not onlyoperating status (online state or offline state) of each of theterminals 10, but also detailed information, such as, in the onlinestate, whether calling is possible, whether it is busy, whether a useris leaving her/his seat, or the like. The status information mayindicate not only the operational status of each of the terminals 10 butalso information of the status around the terminal, such that the cable120 c is taken off from the terminal 10, an image is not output while avoice signal is output, voice sound is muted, or the like. In thefollowing, an example where the status information indicates theoperational status will be described.

The operation input reception unit 12 is enabled by the instruction fromthe CPU 101 shown in FIG. 5, the operation button 108 and the powerswitch 109, shown in FIG. 5, and accepts various inputs from a user. Forexample, when the user turns the power switch 109 shown in FIG. 5 to“ON”, the operation input acceptance unit 12 accepts a signal of theuser's operation, and turns on the power.

The communication control unit 13 is enabled by the instruction from theCPU shown in FIG. 5. The communication control unit 13, for example, ata timing of accepting the above-described power ON, from thetransmission/reception unit 11 to the management apparatus 50 via thecommunication network 2, automatically sends login request informationindicating requiring login and an IP address of the request sourceterminal at present. Moreover, when the user turns the power switch fromON state to OFF, after the transmission/reception unit 11 sends statusinformation indicating turning the power OFF to the management apparatus50, the operation input acceptance unit 12 turns the power OFF.Accordingly, the side of the management apparatus 50 can perceive thatthe power of the terminal 10 is turned from ON to OFF.

Moreover, the communication control unit 13 performs variouscommunication controls, such as establishing, cutting off or the like acommunication session sending/receiving content data to/from the otherterminal 10 via the relay apparatus 30. Meanwhile, the communicationcontrol unit 13 according to the first embodiment sends, to themanagement apparatus 50, control information for a session with aservice ID (service identification information) for identifying aservice content to be provided to the terminal 10.

The imaging unit 14 is enabled by the instruction from the CPU 101 shownin FIG. 5, the camera 112 and the imaging element I/F 113, shown in FIG.5, and outputs image data of an object obtained by capturing a subjectand converting captured data into predetermined image (video) data.

The sound input unit 15 a is enabled by the instruction from the CPU 101shown in FIG. 5 and the sound input/output I/F 116, shown in FIG. 5, andoutputs predetermined voice data obtained by converting voice of a userinto an electric signal at the microphone 114. The sound output unit 15b is enabled by the instruction from the CPU 101 shown in FIG. 5 and thesound input/output I/F 116, shown in FIG. 5, and outputs a voice signal,obtained by converting the voice data, to the speaker 115, then sound isoutput from the speaker 115.

The display control unit 16 is enabled by the instruction from the CPU101 shown in FIG. 5 and the display I/F 117, shown in FIG. 3. Thedisplay control device 16 controls, as described later, controls forcombining received image data, resolutions of which are different fromeach other, and sending the combined image data to the display device120. Moreover, the display control unit 16 may send to the displaydevice 120 information on a destination list received from themanagement apparatus 50, and display the destination list on the displaydevice 120.

The storage/readout process unit 17 is enabled by the instruction fromthe CPU 101 shown in FIG. 5 and the SSD 105, shown in FIG. 5, or thestorage/readout process unit 17 is enabled by the instruction from theCPU 101. The storage/readout unit 17 stores various data into thestorage unit 1000, and reads out various data stored in the storage unit1000. The storage unit 1000 stores a terminal ID (identification) foridentifying the terminal 10, a password and the like. Furthermore, thestorage unit 1000 stores image data and voice data received in thecommunication with the destination terminal, while overwriting thepreviously stored data. Image data in the previously stored data, to beoverwritten, are converted and output from the display device 120 asimages, and voice data in the previously stored data are converted andoutput from the speaker 115 as voice sound.

Moreover, the storage/readout unit 17 reads out a service ID from arecording medium 1010 which stores the service ID (serviceidentification information) for identifying a service to be provided tothe terminal 10. Meanwhile, the recording medium 1010 storing theservice ID may be, for example, a rewritable recording medium such as amemory card or may be, for example, a recording medium such as a SIMcard in which contract information or the like for the user is written.

Moreover, in a case where the recording medium 1010 is a SIM card, theservice ID may be SIM identification information or the like regardingthe contract information for the user, or may be information on servicecontent which is stored separately from the SIM identificationinformation.

Moreover, the terminal 10 may use the SIM identification informationstored in the recording medium 1010 as a terminal ID, instead of theterminal ID stored in the storage unit 1000.

The terminal ID according to the first embodiment, and a relay apparatusID and a service ID, which will be explained later, indicate an exampleof identification information, such as a language, a character, asymbol, various signs, or the like, used for uniquely identifying aterminal 10, a relay apparatus 30 and service content, respectively.Moreover, the terminal ID, the relay apparatus ID and the service ID maybe identification information of a combination of at least two of theabove-described language, the character, the symbol and the varioussigns.

Moreover, instead of the terminal ID, a user ID for identifying the userof the terminal 10 may be used. In this case, the terminalidentification information includes not only the terminal ID but alsothe user ID.

(Functional Configuration of Management Apparatus)

The management apparatus 50 includes a transmission/reception unit 51, aterminal authentication unit 52, a terminal state management unit 53, aterminal extraction unit 54, a terminal state acquisition unit 55, asession management unit 56, a service management unit 57, astorage/readout unit 58 and the like. Each of the above units is afunction or means enabled by one of the components, shown in FIG. 6,operating according to an instruction from the CPU 201 following theprogram for the management apparatus 50, which has been copied from theHD 204 onto the RAM 203. Moreover, the management apparatus 50 includesa storage unit 5000, configured by the HD 204, shown in FIG. 6.

(Functional Elements in Management Apparatus)

Next, each functional element in the management apparatus 50 will beexplained in detail. In the following, in the explanation of thefunctional elements of the management apparatus 50, a relationship withthe main component, which enables the respective functional elements ofthe management apparatus 50, among the respective components shown inFIG. 6, also will be described.

The transmission/reception unit 51 is executed by an instruction fromthe CPU 201 shown in FIG. 6 and the network I/F 209, shown in FIG. 6,and sends various data (information) to and receives various data(information) from another terminal, another apparatus or another systemvia the communication network 2.

The terminal authentication unit 52 is enabled by the instruction fromthe CPU 201 shown in FIG. 6. The terminal authentication unit 52determines, for example, whether a combination of terminal ID and apassword included in login request information received by thetransmission/reception unit 51 is included in the authenticationmanagement DB (Database) 5002, to perform authentication of the terminal10.

The terminal state management unit 53 is enabled by the instruction fromthe CPU 201 shown in FIG. 6, and manages the operational status of therequest source terminal, which requires a login. The terminal statemanagement unit 53 stores in the terminal management DB 5003 adestination name, an operational status, reception date and time ofrequest information or the like, an IP address of the request sourceterminal and the like, for each terminal ID, by associating them witheach other, to manage them. Moreover, the terminal state management unit53 changes the operational state indicating “ONLINE” of a terminal 10 inthe terminal management DB 5003 to “OFFLINE”, based on statusinformation indicating turning the power OFF, sent from the terminal 10,when the user turns a state of the power switch 109 of the terminal 10to “OFF”. The terminal management DB 5003 will be described later.

The terminal extraction unit 54 is enabled by the instruction from theCPU 201 shown in FIG. 6. The terminal extraction unit 54 extracts aterminal ID by searching the destination list management DB 5004 withthe terminal ID of the request source terminal, which requires a login,as a search key and reads out a terminal ID of a destination terminalwhich can communicate with the request source terminal. Moreover, theterminal extraction unit 54 searches the destination list management DB5004 with the terminal ID of the request source terminal, which requiresa login, as a search key, and also extracts terminal IDs of otherrequest source terminals, for each of which the terminal ID of the aboverequest source terminal is registered as a candidate of a destinationterminal. The destination list management DB 5004 will be explainedlater.

The terminal state acquisition unit 55 is enabled by the instructionfrom the CPU 201 shown in FIG. 6. The terminal state acquisition unit 55searches the terminal management DB 5003, with the terminal ID of thecandidate of the destination terminal extracted by the terminalextraction unit 54, as a search key, and reads out the operating statusfor each of the terminal IDs extracted by the terminal extraction unit54. Accordingly, the terminal state acquisition unit 55 can acquireoperating status of candidates of the destination terminal, which areallowed to communicate with the request source terminal, which hasrequired the login. Moreover, the terminal state acquisition unit 55searches the terminal management DB 5003, with the terminal ID extractedby the terminal extraction unit 54 as a search key, and also acquiresthe operational status of the request source terminal, which hasrequired the login.

The session management unit 56 is enabled by the instruction from theCPU 201 shown in FIG. 6, and includes, for example, a session controlunit 56 a and a session information management unit 56 b, as shown inFIG. 8.

In FIG. 8, the session control unit 56 a controls a session managed bythe management apparatus 50, such as a session of a remote conference orcontent distribution. The control of session includes, for example,control for establishing a session, control for causing a terminal 10 toparticipate in the established session, control for cutting off thesession, control for generating a session ID or the like.

The session information management unit 56 b stores a request sourceterminal ID of the terminal 10, which requires to start the session, adestination terminal ID of the destination terminal 10 and the like inthe session management DB 5005 in association with the session IDgenerated by the session control unit 56 a, to manage them. The sessionmanagement DB 5005 will be described later.

The service management unit 57 shown in FIG. 7 is enabled by theinstruction from the CPU 201 shown in FIG. 6, and includes, for example,a service information management unit 57 a, a service ID acquisitionunit 57 b and a service content determination unit 57 c, as shown inFIG. 8.

In FIG. 8, the service information management unit 57 a stores, in theservice management DB 5006, a service ID for identifying service contentprovided to each of the terminals 10 managed by the management apparatus50 and service content corresponding to each service ID, to manage them.The service information management unit 57 a preliminarily stores in theservice management DB 5006, for example, a service ID (serviceidentification information) and service content corresponding to theservice ID, in response to an operation by an administrator of themanagement apparatus 50, request information from another informationprocessing apparatus or the like. The service management DB 5006 will bedescribed later.

The service ID acquisition unit 57 b acquires a service ID of each ofthe terminals 10 participating in the session. For example, the serviceID acquisition unit 57 b acquires information such as start requestinformation received from each of the terminals 10 participating in thesession or start response information from the session management unit56 a, and extracts a service ID included in the acquired information.

Moreover, as another example, the service ID acquisition unit 57 b mayacquire identification information (terminal ID) of the terminal 10 frominformation received from each of the terminals 10, to acquire a serviceID from a database or the like which preliminarily stores a terminal IDand a service ID associated with each other.

The service content determination unit 57 c determines service contentof the session, using service IDs of the terminals 10 participating inthe session, acquired by the service ID acquisition unit 57 b, and theservice management DB 5006 managed by the service information managementunit 57 a. For example, the service content determined by the servicecontent determination unit 57 c includes session information or the likewhich specifies a quality of content data which the relay apparatus 30transfers to each of the terminals 10 participating in the session.Preferably, the quality of the content data includes quality items of aframe rate of image data, a bit rate, resolution, image quality, colordepth or the like. Moreover, preferably, the quality of content dataincludes quality items of a sampling rate of sound (voice) data, a bitrate, a quantized bit number or the like.

Meanwhile, session information based on the service content of thesession determined by the service content determination unit 57 c isreported to the relay apparatus 30 with the session ID by the sessioncontrol unit 56 b.

Returning to FIG. 7, description of the functional configuration of themanagement apparatus 50 continues.

The storage/readout unit 58 of the management apparatus 50 is enabled bythe instruction from the CPU 201 shown in FIG. 6 and the HDD 205, orenabled by the instruction from the CPU 201. The storage/readout unit 58stores various types of data to the storage unit 5000, and reads outvarious data from the storage unit 5000.

<Functional Configuration of Relay Apparatus>

The relay apparatus 30 includes a transmission/reception unit (transferunit) 31, a quality changing unit 32, a relay management unit 33 and astorage/readout unit 34. Each of the above units is a function or meansenabled by one of the components, shown in FIG. 6, operating accordingto an instruction from the CPU 201 following the program for the relayapparatus, which has been copied from the HD 204 onto the RAM 203.Moreover, the relay apparatus 30 includes a storage unit 3000,comprising the RAM 203 shown in FIG. 6 and/or the HD 204 shown in FIG.6.

(Functional Configuration in the Relay Apparatus)

Next, the functional configuration of the relay apparatus 30 will bedescribed. Meanwhile, in the following, in the explanation of thefunctional configuration of the relay apparatus 30, a relationship withthe main component, which enables the respective functions of the relayapparatus 30, among the respective components shown in FIG. 6, also willbe described.

The transmission/reception unit (transfer unit) 31 is enabled by theinstruction from the CPU 201 shown in FIG. 6 and the network I/F 209shown in FIG. 6, and sends various data (information) to and receivesvarious data (information) from another terminal, another apparatus oranother system via the communication network 2. Moreover, thetransmission/reception unit 31 also plays a role of a transfer unit, andtransfers (relays) content data (image data, sound data or the like)received from the terminal 10 participating in the session to anotherterminal 10 participating in the session following an instruction fromthe relay management unit 33.

The quality changing unit 32 is enabled by the instruction from the CPU201 shown in FIG. 6. The quality changing unit 32 changes (converts) aquality of the content data transferred by the transmission/receptionunit 31 following the instruction from the relay management unit 33.

The relay management unit 33 is enabled by the instruction from the CPU201 shown in FIG. 6, and includes, for example, a service contentmanagement unit 33 a, a quality setting unit 33 b and a relay controlunit 33 c.

The service content management unit 33 a stores, in the service contentmanagement DB 3001, session information received from the managementapparatus 50 via the transmission/reception unit 31, to manage it. Theservice content management DB 3001 will be described later.

The quality setting unit 33 b sets content of conversion (change) forcommunication quality in the quality changing unit 32, based on thesession information stored in the service content management DB 3001,when the session starts.

The relay control unit 33 c controls a transfer (relay) process forcontent data by the transmission/reception unit (transfer unit) 31. Forexample, the relay control unit 33 c sends the transfer destination ofcontent data received from each of the terminals 10 participating in thesession to the transmission/reception unit (transfer unit) 31.

According to the above-described configuration, the quality changingunit 32 in the relay apparatus 30, based on the session informationmanaged in the service content management unit 33 a, changes the qualityof content data transferred at the transmission/reception unit (transferunit) 31, and sends them to the designated transfer destination.

For example, the relay apparatus 30, in a session with a session ID“se3” in the service content management table 1201 shown in FIG. 12,converts content data received from a terminal “A” into communicationquality of “10 fps, HD”, “22.05 kHz”, and transfers them to a terminal“B”. Similarly, the relay apparatus 30 converts content data receivedfrom the terminal “B” into communication quality of “20 fps, SD”, “22.05kHz”, and transfers them to the terminal “A”. Meanwhile, the relayapparatus 30 may transfer content data without converting quality of thecontent data, in a case where quality of content data of a transferdestination is the same as quality of content data received from atransfer source.

Next, the management databases (DBs) stored in the storage unit 5000 ofthe management apparatus 50 will be described. FIGS. 10A to 11C areconceptual diagrams illustrating the respective management tablesmanaged in the management apparatus according to the first embodiment.

(Relay Apparatus Management DB)

The relay apparatus management DB 5001 stored in the storage unit 5000of the management apparatus 50 includes, for example, a relay apparatusmanagement table 1001 as shown in FIG. 10A. In the relay apparatusmanagement table 1000, for each relay apparatus ID of the relayapparatuses 30, the operating state of the relay apparatus 30, thereception date/time of the operating state, the IP address of the relayapparatus 30, the maximum data transfer rate (Mbps) of the relayapparatus 30 and the like are stored in association with one another.For example, the relay apparatus management table 1001 illustrated inFIG. 10A indicates that the relay apparatus 30 a with the relayapparatus ID “111a” has the operating state “online”, the receptiondate/time of the operating state is “Apr. 10, 2014, 13:00”. Moreover,the relay apparatus management table 1001 also indicates that the IPaddress of the relay apparatus 30 a is “1.2.1.2” and the maximum datatransfer rate in the relay apparatus 30 a is “100 Mbps”.

(Authentication Management Table)

Moreover, the authentication management DB 5002 stored in the storageunit 5000 of the management apparatus 50 includes, for example, anauthentication management table 1002 as shown in FIG. 10B. In theauthentication management table 1002, a password is stored and managedin association with each of terminal IDs of the terminals 10 managed bythe management apparatus 50. For example, the authentication managementtable 1002, illustrated in FIG. 10B, indicates that the terminal ID ofthe terminal 10 is “01aa”, and the password of the terminal 10 is“aaaa”.

(Terminal Management Table)

Furthermore, a terminal management DB 5003 stored in the storage unit5000 of the management apparatus 50 includes, for example, a terminalmanagement table 1003 as shown in FIG. 10C. In the terminal managementtable 1003, for each terminal ID of the terminal 10, a destinationterminal name in the case where the terminal 10 serves as a destinationterminal, the operating state of the terminal 10, a date/time receivedat which login request information described later is received by themanagement apparatus 50, and the IP address of the terminal 10 arestored in association with one another. For example, the terminalmanagement table 1003 illustrated in FIG. 10C indicates that theterminal 10 with the terminal ID “01aa” has the destination terminalname “AA terminal, Tokyo office, Japan”, the operating state “online(communication OK)”, the date/time received at which login requestinformation is received by the management apparatus 50 “Apr. 10, 2014,13:40”, and the IP address “1.2.1.3”.

(Candidate List Management Table)

Moreover, a destination list management DB 5004 stored in the storageunit 5000 of the management apparatus 50 includes, for example, adestination list management table 1101 as shown in FIG. 11A. In thedestination list management table 1101, the terminal IDs of alldestination terminals 10 registered as candidate destination terminalsare stored in association with a terminal ID of a request sourceterminal that sends a request to start communication (transmission) in avideo conference. For example, the candidate list management table 1101illustrated in FIG. 11A indicates that candidates for a destinationterminal to which a request source terminal with a terminal ID “01ab”can send a request to start communication in a video conference are theterminal with a terminal ID “01 aa”, the terminal with a terminal ID“01ba” and the terminal with a terminal ID “01bb”. The candidatedestination terminals are updated by addition or deletion in response toan addition or deletion request received from an arbitrary requestsource terminal to the management apparatus 50.

(Session Management Table)

Furthermore, a session management DB 5005 stored in the storage unit5000 of the management apparatus 50 includes a session management table1102 as shown in FIG. 11B. The session management table 1102 includes,for each session ID, which is identification information of a session, arelay apparatus ID of a relay apparatus 30 which is used, a terminal IDof a request source terminal, terminal IDs of one or more destinationterminals, a delay time (ms), a reception date/time of the delay timeand the like.

(Service Management Table)

Furthermore, a service management DB 5006 stored in the storage unit5000 of the management apparatus 50 includes, for example, a servicemanagement table 1103 as shown in FIG. 11C. In the service managementtable 1103, for example, for each service ID, service contents such asan image quality parameter, a sound quality parameter and the like arestored and managed in association with one another.

The service ID is an example of service identification information foridentifying service content provided to each of the terminals 10 (orusers of the terminals 10) managed by the management apparatus 50.Moreover, the image quality parameter and the sound quality parameterare an example of the service content provided to the terminal 10 or tothe users of the terminals 10.

The image quality parameter includes, for example, a frame rate, a bitrate, image quality, resolution, color depth or the like. In the exampleshown in FIG. 11C, the image quality parameter includes a frame rate andreception image quality. The frame rate represents a number of frames ofimage processed in a unit time and expressed in a unit of fps (frame persecond), for example. Moreover, the reception image quality is indicatedby “SD” (standard definition) for image of standard image quality or“HD” (high definition) for image of high definition image quality,resolution of which is higher than SD.

The greater a value of the frame rate, i.e. value of fps is, more fluida motion of an image (motion picture) is. However, an amount oftransmitted data becomes greater. Moreover, a reception image quality of“HD” is higher than that of “SD”. But, an amount of transmitted databecomes greater. Therefore, in a case where an available communicationbandwidth is restricted, when priority is given to image quality toselect “HD”, the frame rate may be reduced. In contrast, when priorityis given to a motion to increase the value of fps, the image quality maydecrease.

In contrast, an example of the sound quality parameter includes asampling rate, a bit rate, quantized bit number of the like. In theexample shown in FIG. 11C, the sound quality parameter includes asampling rate. The sampling rate represents a number of samples of voice(sound) per unit time, and expressed by, for example, a samplingfrequency. The higher the sampling frequency is, the better the soundquality is.

Meanwhile, information that specifies communication quality included inthe service content may include information indicating coding system orthe like instead of the above-described image quality parameter and thesound quality parameter. For example, in a case where in the terminal 10a plurality of coding systems (H.264/AVC, H.264/SVC, H.265 and the like)are available for processing images, the information including servicecontent in the service management table 1103 may be information forspecifying the coding system or the like.

Meanwhile, content of the service management table 1103 is informationwhich is preliminarily set (parameter or the like) by the administratorof the management apparatus 50, a provider of service or the like.

Next, the service content management DB 3001 stored in the relayapparatus 30 will be described.

(Service Content Management DB)

FIG. 12 is a conceptual diagram illustrating the service contentmanagement table according to the first embodiment. A service contentmanagement DB 3001 stored in the storage unit 3000 of the relayapparatus 30 includes, for example, a service content management table1201 as shown in FIG. 12. The service content management table 1201stores session information based on service content of a sessiondetermined by the service content determination unit 57 c of themanagement apparatus 50, in association with a session ID that isidentification information of each session. Moreover, the sessioninformation includes, for example, as shown in FIG. 12, a terminal IDwhich is identification information of terminals 10 participating ineach session, and information indicating quality of content datatransferred to each terminal ID (reception image quality parameter andreception sound quality parameter).

<Flow of Process>

Next, a flow of process according to the first embodiment will bedescribed.

(Flow of Process in Management Apparatus)

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an operation ofestablishing a communication session in the management apparatusaccording to the first embodiment. Meanwhile, the transmission system 1can use the relay apparatuses 30 a to 30 d. However, in the following,for ease of explanation, a predetermined relay apparatus 30 is assumedto be used.

In a case where a management apparatus 50 receives start requestinformation requiring starting a session from a terminal 10 (step S1301:YES), the management apparatus 50 executes processes of and after stepS1302. Meanwhile, in the following description, the terminal 10 thatrequires starting the session will be called request source terminal anda terminal 10 of a destination, to which the request source terminalrequires coupling, will be called destination terminal.

The start request information received from the request source terminalincludes, for example, a request source terminal ID, which is a terminalID of the request source terminal, a destination terminal ID, which is aterminal ID of the destination terminal, a service ID, which isidentification information for identifying service content provided tothe request source terminal, and the like.

In a case where the terminal authentication unit 52 of the managementapparatus 50 performs authentication for the request source terminal andthe authentication is successful (step S1302: YES), processes of andafter step S1304 are executed. In contrast, in a case where theauthentication is not successful (step S1302: NO), the start of thesession (communication) is rejected (step S1303). Meanwhile, forexample, in a case where the authentication of the request sourceterminal has already been successful by a process in a preparationstage, which will be described later with reference to FIG. 14, themanagement apparatus 50 may omit the process of step S1302.

The service ID acquisition unit 57 b of the management apparatus 50acquires (extracts) the service ID of the request source terminalincluded in the start request information (step S1304).

The service information management unit 57 a of the management apparatus50 acquires, from the service management DB 5006, the service content(e.g. information indicating quality of the content or the like)corresponding to the service ID of the request source terminal acquiredby the service ID acquisition unit 57 b (step S1305).

The session control unit 56 a of the management apparatus 50 sends(transfers) the start request information requiring starting the sessionto the destination terminal (step S1306).

The session control unit 56 a receives start response information, whichis in response to the start request information, from the destinationterminal (step S1307). The start response information received from therequest source terminal includes a service ID, which is identificationinformation on service content provided to the destination terminal, orthe like.

The terminal authentication unit 52 of the management apparatus 50performs authentication for the destination terminal (step S1308). In acase where the authentication is successful (step S1308: YES), processesof and after step S1310 are executed. In contrast, in a case where theauthentication is not successful, the start of the session(communication) is rejected (step S1309). Meanwhile, for example, in acase where the authentication of the destination terminal has alreadybeen successful by a process in a preparation stage, which will bedescribed later with reference to FIG. 14, the management apparatus 50may omit the process of step S1308.

The service ID acquisition unit 57 b of the management apparatus 50acquires (extracts) the service ID of the destination terminal includedin the start response information (step S1310).

The service information management unit 57 a of the management apparatus50 acquires, from the service management DB 5006, the service content(e.g. information indicating quality of the content or the like)corresponding to the service ID of the destination terminal acquired bythe service ID acquisition unit 57 b (step S1311).

The service content determination unit 57 c of the management apparatus50 determines the service content of the session required by the requestsource terminal (step S1312). For example, the service contentdetermination unit 57 c determines quality of content transferred to therequest source terminal based on the service content acquired at stepS1305. Moreover, the service content determination unit 57 c determinesquality of content transferred to the destination terminal based on theservice content acquired at step S1311.

The session control unit 56 a of the management apparatus 50 creates asession ID, which is identification information for the session (stepS1313).

The session control unit 56 a reports, to the relay apparatus 30, thecreated session ID and session information based on the service contentof the session (step S1314). The session information includes, forexample, information indicating the quality of the content datatransferred to the request source terminal by the relay apparatus 30 andthe quality of the content data transferred to the destination terminal.Meanwhile, in a case where there are plural destination terminals, thesession information includes information indicating qualities of contentdata transferred to the respective destination terminals.

The session control unit 56 a sends session start instructioninformation for starting the session to the request source terminal andthe destination terminal (step S1315). The session start instructioninformation includes a session ID for identifying the session.

According to the processes illustrated in FIG. 13, in a session amongthe terminals 10, based on respective service contents for the terminalsparticipating in the session, the service content of the session can beeasily controlled.

Meanwhile, in the above-described explanations, the management apparatus50 is assumed to hold a session using the predetermined relay apparatus30. The above-described process is an example, and does not restrict thescope of the present invention. For example, the management apparatus 50may hold a session by selectively using one of the relay apparatuses 30a to 30 d.

Next, a flow of a process in the transmission system 1 will be describedwith reference to a sequence diagram.

(Process at Preparation Stage)

FIG. 14 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of a process in apreparation stage for the transmission system according to the firstembodiment. In the following, as an example, a process in a preparationstage before starting the session by a terminal 10A, a terminal 10B anda terminal 10C will be described. Meanwhile, in the followingexplanation, terminal IDs of the terminals 10A, 10B and 10C are assumedto be “01aa”, “01ba” and “10db”, respectively. Moreover, in FIG. 14,management information is assumed to be sent or received by the sessionfor management information “sei”, as shown in FIG. 2.

At first, in a case where a user of the terminal 10A, that is therequest source terminal, turns on the power switch 109, shown in FIG. 5,the operation input acceptance unit 12, shown in FIG. 7, accepts theuser's operation, and the power of the terminal 10A is turned ON (stepS21). Then, the communication control unit 13, when receiving theoperation for turning on the power, sends login request information,indicating a login required, to the management apparatus 50 from thetransmission/reception unit 11 via the communication network 2 (stepS22). Meanwhile, transmission of the login request information byturning the power switch 109 ON is an example. For example, the loginrequest information may be sent by an operation of the operation buttons108 by the user.

Moreover, the login request information includes the terminal ID(request source terminal ID) for identifying the terminal 10A as therequest source terminal and a password. The terminal ID and the passwordhave been read out from the storage unit 1000 via the storage/readoutprocess unit 17. Alternatively, the terminal ID and the password may bestored in the recording medium 1010 and may be read out from therecording medium 1010 or the like. Moreover, when the login requestinformation is sent from the terminal 10A to the management apparatus50, the management apparatus 50 on the reception side can recognize theIP address of the terminal 10A on the transmission side.

Next, the terminal authentication unit 52 of the management apparatus 50searches the authentication management DB 5002 with the terminal ID andthe password as a search key included in the login request informationreceived via the transmission/reception unit 51. For example, theterminal authentication unit 52 performs terminal authentication bydetermining whether a combination of the terminal ID and the passwordincluded in the login request information received from the terminal 10Ais included in the authentication management table 1002 (step S23). Inthe case where the terminal authentication unit 52 determines that thelogin request information is from the terminal 10A, which hasauthorization for use, the terminal state management unit 53 changes anoperational status corresponding to the terminal ID “01aa” of theterminal 10A stored in the terminal management DB 5003 to, for example,“online (communication ok)”.

At this time, the terminal state management unit 53 updates a receptiondate/time, and in a case where the IP address of the terminal 10 ischanged, the IP address of the terminal is updated (step S24).Accordingly, the terminal management table 1003 manages the operationalstatus “online”, the reception time “2014.4.10.13:40”, and the IPaddress of the terminal 10 aa “1.2.1.3”, associated with the terminal ID“01aa” of the terminal 10A.

Then, the transmission/reception unit 51 of the management apparatus 50sends authentication result information, indicating a result of theauthentication obtained by the terminal authentication unit 52, via thecommunication network 2, to the request source terminal 10A, which hasrequired the login (step S25). In the following, a process when theterminal authentication unit 52 determines that the request sourceterminal has authorization for use will be explained.

The terminal extraction unit 54 of the management apparatus 50 searchesthe destination list management table 1101 with the terminal ID “01aa”of the request source terminal which has required the login (terminal10A) as a search key. Then, the terminal extraction unit 54 extracts aterminal ID of a candidate of a destination terminal, which cancommunicate with the request source terminal (terminal 10A) (step S26).In the first embodiment, for example, as terminal IDs of the destinationterminals corresponding to the terminal ID “01aa” of the request sourceterminal (terminal 10A), terminal IDs “01ab”, “01ba” and “01db” areassumed to be extracted.

Next, the terminal state acquisition unit 55 searches the terminalmanagement table 1003 with the terminal IDs (“01ab”, “01ba”, “01db”) ofthe candidates of the destination terminal extracted by theabove-described terminal extraction unit 54 as a search key.Accordingly, the terminal state acquisition unit 55 reads out anoperational status for each of the terminal IDs extracted by theterminal extraction unit 54, to acquire respective operational statusesof the terminal IDs (“01ab”, “01ba”, “01db”) (step S27).

Next, the transmission/reception unit 51 sends destination statusinformation including the operational statuses of the terminal IDs(“01ab”, “01ba” and “01db”) of the candidates of the destinationterminal to the request source terminal (terminal 10A) via thecommunication network 2 (step S28). Accordingly, the request sourceterminal (terminal 10A) can recognize the operational status at presentof each of terminal IDs (“01ab”, “01ba” and “01db”) of the candidates ofthe destination terminal for the request source terminal (terminal 10A).

Furthermore, the terminal extraction unit 54 of the management apparatus50 searches the destination list management table 1101 with the terminalID “01aa” of the request source terminal (terminal 10A), which hasrequired the login, as a search key. Therefore, the terminal extractionunit 54 extracts other request source terminal IDs, for each of whichthe terminal ID “01aa” of the request source terminal (terminal 10A) isregistered as a candidate of a destination terminal (step S29). In thedestination list management table 1101, shown in FIG. 11A, the terminalIDs of the other request source terminals extracted as above, are“01ab”, “01ba” and “01db”.

Next, the terminal state acquisition unit 55 of the management apparatus50 searches the terminal management table 1003 with the terminal ID“01aa” of the request source terminal (terminal 10A), which required thelogin, as a search key. Therefore, the terminal state acquisition unit55 acquires an operational status of the request source terminal(terminal 10A) which required the login (step S30).

Then, the transmission/reception unit 51 extracts the terminal IDs(“01ba” and “01db”) with the operational status of “online”, in theterminal management table 1003, out of the terminal IDs (“01ab”, “01ba”and “01db”) extracted at step S29. Moreover, the transmission/receptionunit 51 sends, to the terminal 10B and the terminal 10C corresponding tothe extracted terminal IDs (“01ba”, “01db”), destination statusinformation including the terminal ID “01aa” of the request sourceterminal (terminal 10A) and the operational status of “online” (stepsS31-1 and S31-2). Meanwhile, upon the transmission/reception unit 51sending the destination status information to the terminals 10B and 10C,based on the terminal IDs (“01ba” and “01db”), thetransmission/reception unit 51 refers to the IP addresses of theterminals managed in the terminal management table 1003. Accordingly,the transmission/reception unit 51 can transfer to each of thedestination terminals 10B and 10C, which can communicate with therequest source terminal (terminal 10) having required the login, as adestination, the terminal ID “01aa” of the request source terminal(terminal 10A) and the operational status of “online”.

On the other hand, also in the other terminals 10, for example, when theuser turns on the power switch 109, shown in FIG. 6, in the same way asstep S21, the operation input acceptance unit 12, shown in FIG. 7,accepts the operation for the power to be ON, and the same processes asin steps S22 to S31-1 and S31-2 are performed.

(Process of Communication Session)

FIGS. 15 and 16 are sequence diagrams illustrating an example of aprocess of communication session of the transmission system according tothe first embodiment. Meanwhile, also in FIGS. 15 and 16, managementinformation is assumed to be sent or received by the session formanagement information “sei” shown in FIG. 2.

In a case where the terminal 10A accepts a selection operation fordestination terminals (terminals 10B and 10C) by the user of theterminal 10A (step S1501), the terminal A sends start requestinformation requiring the management apparatus 50 to start a session(step S1502). This start request information includes, for example, arequest source terminal ID of the terminal 10A which is a request sourceterminal, destination terminal IDs of the terminals 10B and 10C whichare destination terminals, and a service ID for identifying servicecontent provided to the terminal 10A. Moreover, the start requestinformation also includes an IP address of the terminal 10A (requestsource IP address).

The terminal state management unit 53 of the management apparatus 50,which receives the start request information from the terminal 10A,based on the terminal ID “01aa” of the request source terminal (terminal10A) included in the start request information, updates the terminalmanagement table 1003 (step S1503). For example, the terminal statemanagement unit 53 changes the information of the operational statuscorresponding to the terminal ID “01aa” of the terminal 10A to “online(communication OK)” and updates information on reception date/time.

The service ID acquisition unit 57 b of the management apparatus 50extracts a service ID included in the start request information receivedfrom the terminal 10A (step S1504).

The service information management unit 57 a of the management apparatus50 acquires, from the service management DB 5006, service contentcorresponding to the service ID of the terminal 10A acquired by theservice ID acquisition unit 57 a (step S1505). For example, the serviceinformation management unit 57 a acquires, from the service managementtable 1103 shown in FIG. 11C, quality (reception frame rate, receptionimage quality, reception sampling rate and the like) of the content datacorresponding to the service ID of the terminal 10A.

The session control unit 56 a of the management apparatus 50 sends thestart request information for requiring starting a session to theterminal 10B which is one of the destination terminals (step S1506). Thestart request information includes, for example, the request sourceterminal ID of the terminal 10A that is the request source terminal orthe like.

The terminal 10B which receives the start request information from themanagement apparatus 50 sends start response information to themanagement apparatus 50 (step S1507). The start response informationincludes, for example, the destination terminal ID of the terminal 10B,a service ID or the like.

Meanwhile, the above-described start request information and startresponse information are examples of control information including theservice ID (service identification information) that the terminal 10sends to the management apparatus 50.

The terminal state management unit 53 of the management apparatus 50that receives the start response information from the terminal 10B,based on the terminal ID “01ba” of the terminal 10B included in thestart response information, updates the terminal management table 1003(step S1508). For example, the terminal state management unit 53 changesinformation on an operational state corresponding to the terminal ID“01ba” of the terminal 10B to “online (communication ok)”, and updatesinformation on reception date/time.

The service ID acquisition unit 57 b of the management apparatus 50extracts the service ID included in the start response informationreceived from the terminal 10B (step S1509).

The service information management unit 57 a of the management apparatus50 acquires, from the service management DB 5006, service contentcorresponding to the service ID of the terminal 10B acquired by theservice ID acquisition unit 57 a (step S1510). For example, the serviceinformation management unit 57 a acquires, from the service managementtable 1103 shown in FIG. 11C, quality of the content data correspondingto the service ID of the terminal 10B (reception frame rate, receptionimage quality, reception sampling rate and the like).

The session control unit 56 a of the management apparatus 50 sends startrequest information for requiring starting a session to the terminal10C, that is another one of the destination terminals (step S1511). Thestart request information includes, for example, the request sourceterminal ID of the terminal 10A that is the request source terminal.

The terminal 10C, which receives the start request information from themanagement apparatus 50, sends start response information to themanagement apparatus 50 (step S1512). The start response informationincludes, for example, a destination terminal ID of the terminal 10C anda service ID.

The terminal state management unit 53 of the management apparatus 50,which receives the start response information from the terminal 10C,based on the terminal ID “01db” of the terminal 10C included in thestart response information, updates the terminal management table 1003(step S1513). For example, the terminal state management unit 53 changesinformation on an operational state corresponding to the terminal ID“01db” of the terminal 10C to “online (communication ok)”, and updatesinformation on reception date/time.

The service ID acquisition unit 57 b of the management apparatus 50extracts the service ID included in the start response informationreceived from the terminal 10C (step S1514).

The service information management unit 57 a of the management apparatus50 acquires from the service management DB 5006 service contentcorresponding to the service ID of the terminal 10C acquired by theservice ID acquisition unit 57 a (step S1515). For example, the serviceinformation management unit 57 a acquires the quality (reception framerate, reception image quality, reception sampling rate and the like) ofthe content data corresponding to the service IF of the terminal 10Cfrom the service management table 1103 of FIG. 11C.

The service content determination unit 57 c of the management apparatus50 determines service content of the session (step S1516). For example,the service content determination unit 57 c determines quality or thelike of content data that the relay apparatus 30 transfers to each ofthe terminals 10 based on the service contents of the respectiveterminals 10 acquired at steps S1505, S1510 and S1515.

The session control unit 56 a of the management apparatus 50 createssession ID that is identification information for identifying thesession (step S1517).

The session information management unit 56 b stores the created sessionID in the session management table 1102 in association with the requestsource terminal ID (terminal ID of the terminal 10A) and the destinationterminal ID (terminal IDs of the terminal 10B and the terminal 10C)(step S1518).

The session control unit 56 a of the management apparatus 50 sends thesession ID and session information based on the service content of thesession determined at step S1516 to the relay apparatus 30 (step S1519).The session information includes, for example, information indicatingquality of the content data that the relay apparatus 30 transfers toeach of the terminals 10A to 10C participating in the session.

Subsequently, processes of and after step S1519 in FIG. 15 will bedescribed with reference to FIG. 16.

The service content management unit 33 a of the relay apparatus 30,receiving the session information sent from the management apparatus 50at step S1519 in FIG. 15, stores the received session information in theservice content management table 1201, and manages it (step S1601).

The quality setting unit 33 b of the relay apparatus 30 performs settingfor the quality changing unit 32 of the relay apparatus 30 based on thesession information stored in the service content management table 1201(step S1602). Accordingly, the quality changing unit 32 automaticallyconverts the quality of the content that the transmission/reception unit(transfer unit) 31 transfers to each of the terminals 10A to 10C basedon the quality of the content data stored in the service contentmanagement table 1201.

The session control unit 56 a of the management apparatus 50 sends startinstruction information for instructing the terminal 10A to start asession (step S1603). The start instruction information includes asession ID that is identification information of the session. Moreover,the start instruction information may include also information regardingquality or the like of the content data.

For example, the content data sent from the terminal 10A are convertedinto communication quality in response to the service ID of theterminals 10B and 10C by the relay apparatus 30. The quality of thecontent data transferred to the terminals 10B and 10C is reported to theterminal 10A, and thereby the terminal 10A, for example, adjusts qualityof content data to be sent and a bandwidth for sending the content databy the transmission terminal 10A can be reduced.

The terminal 10A, receiving the start instruction information from themanagement apparatus 50, establishes a communication session (session“sed”) with the relay apparatus 30 (step S1604).

The session control unit 56 a of the management apparatus 50 sends thestart instruction information for instructing to start a session also tothe terminal 10B (step S1605).

The terminal 10B, receiving the start instruction information from themanagement apparatus 50 establishes a communication session (“session“sed”) with the relay apparatus 30 (step S1606).

The session control unit 56 a of the management apparatus 50 sends thestart instruction information for instructing to start a session also tothe terminal 10C (step S1607).

The terminal 10C, receiving the start instruction information from themanagement apparatus 50 establishes a communication session (“session“sed”) with the relay apparatus 30 (step S1608).

According to the above-described processes, the terminals 10A to 10Cbecome able to participate in a single session and send/receive contentdata such as image data, sound data or the like, to/from each other.Here, for example, communication quality of the image data and sounddata sent by the relay apparatus 30 at step S1609 are convertedautomatically by the quality changing unit 32 of the relay apparatus 30,and the image data and sound data are transferred (relayed) to theterminal 10B and the terminal 10C.

For example, assume that the session established in FIGS. 15 and 16 is asession corresponding to a session ID “se1” in the service contentmanagement table 1201 shown in FIG. 12. In this case, image data to besent to the terminal 10B corresponding to the terminal ID “01ba” areconverted into 20 fps and HD, sound data are converted into 44.1 kHz,and the data are transferred to the terminal 10B (step S1611). Moreover,image data to be sent to the terminal 10C corresponding to the terminalID “01db” are converted into 30 fps and SD, sound data are convertedinto 22.05 kHz, and the data are transferred to the terminal 10C (stepS1612).

Similarly, for example, communication quality of the image data and thesound data sent by the terminal 10B are converted automatically by thequality changing unit 32 of the relay apparatus 30 (step S1613), and thedata are transferred (relayed) to the terminal 10A and the terminal 10C(step S1614).

For example, in the above-described session ID “se1”, image data to besent to the terminal 10A corresponding to the terminal ID “01aa” areconverted into 30 fps and HD and sound data are converted into 44.1 kHz,and are transferred to the terminal 10A (step S1615). Moreover, imagedata to be sent to the terminal 10C corresponding to the terminal ID“01db” are converted into 30 fps and SD and sound data are convertedinto 22.05 kHz, and are transferred to the terminal 10C (step S1616).

Meanwhile, in FIG. 16, the processes of steps S1609 to S1616 arearranged serially in order to make the explanation simple. However,these processes are actually performed, for example, in parallel.Moreover, the process of establishing session at steps S1603 to S1608may be performed in parallel.

Moreover, in the example illustrated in FIGS. 15 and 16, it is explainedthat on starting the communication session among the terminals 10A, 10Band 10C, the management apparatus 50 sends the start request informationto both the terminal 10B and the terminal 10C. The above-describedsequence is only an example. For example, the management apparatus 50may cause the terminal 10C to participate in an established session inthe middle, after sending start request information to the terminal 10Bto establish the communication session between the terminal A and theterminal B. In this case, the management apparatus 50 sends a session IDof the communication session established between the terminal and theterminal B to the terminal 10C. Accordingly, the terminal 10C canrequire the management apparatus 50 to participate in the communicationsession established between the terminal 10A and the terminal 10B in themiddle based on the received session ID.

As described above, the terminal 10 according to the first embodimentsends control information (start instruction information or startresponse information) of a session, which includes a service ID foridentifying service content provided to the terminal 10, to themanagement apparatus 50 for managing the session.

Moreover, the management apparatus 50 determines service content of thesession based on the service ID included in the control informationreceived from the terminals 10 participating in the session, and reportssession information based on the determined service content of thesession to the relay apparatus 30.

The relay apparatus 30 changes (converts) the quality of the contentdata transferred to the terminals 10 participating in the session basedon the session information reported from the management apparatus 50.

Therefore, according to the first embodiment, a transmission system 1 isprovided, in which in a session among transmission terminals, based onrespective service contents for the transmission terminals participatingin the session, service content of the session can be easily controlled.

In the related art as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined PatentApplication Publication No. 2008-227577, in a session of a videoconference, in which data transmission is carried out among thetransmission terminals, it is quite difficult to control service contentof the session depending on the service contents for each of thetransmission terminals participating in the session.

According to the first embodiment, a transmission management apparatusthat make is easier to control service content of a session based on theservice content of each transmission terminal in a session can beprovided.

Second Embodiment

In a second embodiment, an example in a case where communication qualityincluded in service content corresponding to each service ID includesoptions will be described.

FIG. 17 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a service management tableaccording to the second embodiment. A service management table 1701according to the second embodiment is obtained by adding informationregarding quality of transmission content to the service managementtable 1103 according to the first embodiment shown in FIG. 11C. Forexample, the service management table 1701 according to the secondembodiment is obtained by adding information on a transmission framerate, transmission image quality, a transmission sampling rate or thelike to the service management table 1103 according to the firstembodiment.

Furthermore, the service management table 1701 includes options for eachitem of communication quality. For example, in FIG. 17, the service ID“sv903” indicate that any frame rate as the transmission frame rate canbe selected from 40 fps, 30 fps and 20 fps. Similarly, the service ID“sv903” can select any transmission image quality from UHD (Ultra HighDefinition), HD and SD as a transmission image quality.

Moreover, FIG. 17 illustrates an example where transmissioncommunication quality (transmission frame rate, transmission imagequality and transmission sampling rate) is the same as receptioncommunication quality (reception frame rate, reception image quality andreception sampling rate). However, it is possible to set differentvalues.

<Functional Configuration>

FIG. 18 is a functional configuration diagram of a transmission systemaccording to the second embodiment. The management apparatus 50according to the second embodiment includes a service prioritymanagement DB 5007 in the storage unit 5000 in addition to thefunctional configuration according to the first embodiment as shown inFIG. 7. The service priority management DB 5007 is managed, for example,by the service management unit 57 (service information management unit57 a or the like) of the management apparatus 50. Meanwhile, thefunctional configuration may be the same as in the first embodiment.

(Service Priority Management DB)

The service priority management DB 5007 stored in the storage unit 5000of the management apparatus 50 includes, for example, a service prioritymanagement table 1901 as shown in FIG. 19. In the service prioritymanagement table 1901, information related to selection method for eachquality item of communication quality is stored in association withrespective service IDs. In the example shown in FIG. 19, the service ID“sv901” indicates that in a case where there are options of thetransmission frame rate, a greater frame rate is preferentiallyselected. Moreover, the service ID “sv902” indicates that in a casewhere there are options of the transmission frame rate, a smaller framerate is preferentially selected. For the other quality items, similarselection methods are stored.

<Flow of Process>

(Process of Communication Session)

FIG. 20 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of a process of acommunication session in a transmission system according to the secondembodiment. Meanwhile, FIG. 20 illustrates an example processes in acase of a single destination terminal in order to make the explanationsimple. However, a number of destination terminals may be two or more.Moreover, processes of steps S1501 to S1510 in FIG. 20 are the same asthe processes according to the first embodiment explained with referenceto FIG. 15, and mainly a difference from the first embodiment will beexplained.

According to the processes of steps S1501 to S1510, the managementapparatus 50 acquires service content corresponding to a service ID ofthe terminal 10A that is a request source terminal and service contentcorresponding to a service ID of the terminal 10B that is thedestination terminal.

The service content determination unit 57 c of the management apparatus50 determines service content of a session based on the service contentcorresponding to the service ID of the terminal 10A participating in thesession and the service content corresponding to the service ID of theterminal 10B (step S2001). At this time, in the second embodimentservice content corresponding to a service ID includes options whereasin the first embodiment a service content corresponding to a service IDis determined uniquely.

Then, in the second embodiment, in a case where there are servicecontents corresponding to a service ID, the service contentdetermination unit 57 c determines a service content of a session basedon, for example, the service priority management DB 5007. Meanwhile, aspecific example of determination processes will be described later withreference to FIG. 21.

The session control unit 56 a of the management apparatus 50 creates asession ID in the same way as the first embodiment (step S2002).

The session information management unit 56 b stores the created sessionID in the session management table 1102 in association with a requestsource terminal ID (terminal ID of the terminal 10A) and a destinationterminal ID (terminal ID of the terminal 10B) (step S2003).

The session control unit 56 a of the management apparatus 50, sends tothe relay apparatus 30, a session ID and session information based onservice content of the session (step S2004). The session informationincludes, for example, the session ID and information indicating servicecontent of the session such as transmission quality, reception qualityor the like of content data of the terminals 10A and 10B participatingin the session.

(Process of Determining Service Content of Session)

FIG. 21 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a process ofdetermining service content of a session according to the secondembodiment.

The management apparatus 50 acquires service contents of the terminals10 participating in the session (step S2101). This process corresponds,for example, to the processes of steps S1502 to S1510 in FIG. 20.

The service content determination unit 57 c of the management apparatus50 determines whether there is a service content (quality of contentdata or the like) that can be commonly used by the terminals 10participating in the session (step S2102). In a case where there is notthe service content that can be commonly used, the process proceeds tostep S2103, and for example starting communication is rejected. Incontrast, in a case where there is the service content that can becommonly used, the service content determination unit 57 c executesprocesses of and after step S2104.

FIGS. 22A to 22C are diagrams for explaining commonly usable servicecontent according to the second embodiment. Here, the service IDs of theterminals 10A, 10B and 10C are assumed to be “sv901”, “sv902” and“sv903”, respectively. Moreover, in order to make the explanationsimple, parameters on the transmission side are assumed to be the sameas parameters on the reception side. For example, in the followingexplanations, a frame rate of “20 fps” is assumed to mean that both theframe rate of the transmission side and the frame rate of the receptionside are “20 fps”. However, this is only an example, and in the secondembodiment, the service content of the transmission side may bedifferent from the service content of the reception side.

FIG. 22A is a table showing a frame rate that each terminal 10 can dealwith by “o” and a frame rate that each terminal 10 cannot deal with by“x” based on the service management table 1701 in FIG. 17. In theexample shown in FIG. 22A, the frame rate that the terminal 10A and theterminal 10B can commonly use is “20 fps”. In contrast, the frame ratesthat the terminal 10A and the terminal 10C can commonly use are “30 fps”and “20 fps”.

Similarly, FIG. 22B is a table showing an image quality that eachterminal 10 can deal with by “o” and an image quality that each terminal10 cannot deal with by “x” based on the service management table 1701 inFIG. 17. In the example shown in FIG. 22B, the image quality that theterminal 10A and the terminal 10B can commonly use is “SD”. In contrast,the image qualities that the terminal 10A and the terminal 10C cancommonly user are “HD” and “SD”.

Similarly, FIG. 22C is a table showing a sampling rate that eachterminal 10 can deal with by “o” and a sampling rate that each terminal10 cannot deal with by “x” based on the service management table 1701 inFIG. 17. In the example shown in FIG. 22C, the sampling rate that theterminal 10A and the terminal 10B can commonly use is “22.05 kHz”. Incontrast, the sampling rates that the terminal 10A and the terminal 10Ccan commonly user are “44.1 kHz” and “22.05 kHz”.

Returning to FIG. 21, the explanation of the flowchart will becontinued.

The service content determination unit 57 c of the management apparatus50 determines whether a number of service content sets that therespective terminals 10 can commonly use is one (step S2104 in FIG. 21).For example, in the example shown in FIGS. 22A to 22C, the servicecontent set that the terminal 10A and the terminal 10B can commonly useis “20 fps, SD, 22.05 kHz”. In contrast, there are several servicecontent set that the terminal 10A and the terminal 10C can commonly use.

In a case where the number of the service content sets that therespective terminals 10 can commonly use is one (step S2104: YES), theservice content determination unit 57 c determines the commonly usableservice content to be the service content of the session (step S2105).In contrast, in a case where there are several commonly usable servicecontent sets, the process of the service content determination unit 57 cproceeds to step S2106.

The service content determination unit 57 c of the management apparatus50 acquires service priority information corresponding to a prescribedservice ID from the service priority management DB 5007 (step S2106).Here, the prescribed service ID is, for example, a predetermined serviceID, such as a service ID of the request source terminal 10 for thesession or a service ID of the destination terminal 10. The prescribedservice ID may be determined arbitrarily.

Here, an example in which the prescribed service ID is the service ID ofthe request source terminal 10A for the session will be illustrated.

The service content determination unit 57 c of the management apparatus50 determines a service content based on the acquired service priorityinformation, e.g. service priority information corresponding to theservice ID of the terminal 10A that is the request source terminal 10(step S2107).

For example, in FIG. 22A, in a case where the terminal 10A and theterminal 10C perform communication, for the frame rate (transmissionframe rate and reception frame rate), “20 fps” or “30 fps” can beselected. Moreover, in FIG. 19, in a case where the service ID of theterminal 10A that is the request source terminal is “sv901”, the greaterframe rate (transmission frame rate and reception frame rate) isprioritized. In this case, the service content determination unit 57 cof the management apparatus 50 determines “30 fps”, which is a greaterframe rate among the frame rates that the terminal 10A and the terminal10C can commonly use, to be the frame rate of the session.

Similarly, in FIG. 22B, in a case where the terminal 10A and theterminal 10C perform communication, for the image quality (transmissionimage quality and reception image quality), “HD” or “SD” can beselected. Moreover, in FIG. 19, in a case where the service ID of theterminal 10A that is the request source terminal is “sv901”, the imagequality (transmission image quality and reception image quality) withthe greater number of pixels is prioritized. In this case, the servicecontent determination unit 57 c of the management apparatus 50determines “HD”, which is an image quality having greater number ofpixels among the image qualities that the terminal 10A and the terminal10C can commonly use, to be the image quality of the session.

Furthermore, in FIG. 22C, in a case where the terminal 10A and theterminal 10C perform communication, for the sampling rate (transmissionsampling rate and reception sampling rate), “44.4 kHz” or “22.05 kHz”can be selected. Moreover, in FIG. 19, in a case where the service ID ofthe terminal 10A that is the request source terminal is “sv901”, thesmaller sampling rate (transmission sampling rate and reception samplingrate) is prioritized. In this case, the service content determinationunit 57 c of the management apparatus 50 determines “22.05 kHz”, whichis a smaller sampling rate among the sampling rates that the terminal10A and the terminal 10C can commonly use, to be the sampling rate ofthe session.

According to the above-described processes, even in a case where thereare a plurality of service contents corresponding to a service ID ofeach terminal 10, the management apparatus 50 can determine the servicecontent of the session uniquely by using the service priority managementDB 5007.

Meanwhile, the above-described description of the embodiment is only anexample. In the service management table 1701 shown in FIG. 17, a valueof quality of content data on the transmission side may be differentfrom a value of quality of content data on the reception side.Similarly, in the service priority management table 1901 shown in FIG.19, a setting of a priority on the transmission side may be differentfrom a setting of a priority on the reception side.

In a case where the setting on the transmission side is different fromthe setting on the reception side in FIG. 17 or in FIG. 19, the servicecontent determination unit 57 c of the management apparatus 50 maydetermine respective qualities of content data for the transmission sideand for the reception side, separately.

<Summary>

A transmission management apparatus (50) in one embodiment manages asession sending/receiving content data via a relay apparatus (30). Thetransmission management apparatus (50) includes a service informationmanagement unit (57 a) for managing service management information(5006) that preliminary stores service identification information foridentifying service content provided to each of a plurality oftransmission terminals (10), and service content corresponding to theservice identification information; a service identification informationacquisition unit (57 b) for acquiring the service identificationinformation of each of the transmission terminals (10) participating inthe session; a service content determination unit (57 c) for determiningservice content of the session, based on the acquired serviceidentification information and the service management information(5006); and a session control unit (56 a) for reporting sessioninformation based on the determined service content of the session tothe relay apparatus (30).

According to the above-described configuration, in the session among thetransmission terminals (10), the transmission management apparatus (50)can easily control the service content of the session based on theservice content of each of the transmission terminals (10) participatingin the session.

Preferably, the relay apparatus (30) includes a service contentmanagement unit (33 a) for acquiring and managing the sessioninformation received from the transmission management apparatus (50); atransfer unit (31) for transferring the content data sent/received amongthe transmission terminals (10) in the session; and a quality changingunit (32) for changing quality of the content data transferred by thetransfer unit (31) based on the session information managed by theservice content management unit (33 a).

According to the above-described configuration, the relay apparatus (30)can convert and transfer the quality of the content data to betransferred to each of the transmission terminals (10) participating inthe session, based on the session information reported from thetransmission management apparatus (50).

Preferably, the transmission terminal (10) includes a readout unit (17)for reading out service identification information from a recordingmedium (1010) that stores the service identification information foridentifying service content to be provided to the transmission terminal(10); and a communication control unit (13) for sending controlinformation including the service identification information to thetransmission management apparatus (50).

According to the above-described configuration, the service IDacquisition unit (57 b) of the management apparatus 50 can easilyacquire the service identification information of the transmissionterminal (10) participating in the session.

Meanwhile, the above-described reference numerals in the parentheses areadded in order to understand easily, are only examples, and do notrestrict the scope of the present invention.

SUPPLEMENT TO EMBODIMENT

The relay apparatus 30, the management apparatus 50 or the like in theembodiment may be configured with a single computer, or may beconfigured with several computers by dividing the respective units(functions or means) and allocating them arbitrarily to the computers.For example, information stored in the storage unit 5000 of themanagement apparatus 50 or information stored in the storage unit 3000of the relay apparatus 30 may be stored in an external server coupled tothe communication network 2, an external storage device externallyadded, or the like.

Moreover, in FIGS. 10A to 11C, reception date/time is managed. However,this is not limiting, i.e. only reception time of the receptiondate/time has to be managed.

Furthermore, in the embodiment, a case of a video conference terminal isdescribed as an example of the transmission terminal. This is notlimiting. A telephone system of an IP (Internet Protocol) telephone, aninternet telephone or the like may be employed. Moreover, a smartphone,a mobile telephone, a car navigation terminal, a wearable computer, amonitoring camera, an electronic whiteboard, a projector, a gamingmachine, or industrial equipment having a communication function may beused. The wearable computer includes a wristwatch, a head mounteddisplay or the like. Moreover, the industrial equipment includes officeequipment such as a MFP (Multifunctional Peripheral/Printer/Product) orthe like, medical equipment such as an endoscopic instrument,agricultural equipment such as a cultivator, or the like.

Moreover, in the embodiment, as an example of content data, image dataand sound data are described. However, this is not limiting. Touch datamay be employed. In this case, a sense of touch by a user on oneterminal is transmitted to the other terminal. Furthermore, content datamay be smell data. In this case, smell on one terminal is transmitted tothe other terminals. Moreover, content data have only to be one of imagedata, sound data, touch data and smell data.

Further, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, butvarious variations and modifications may be made without departing fromthe scope of the present invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A transmission management apparatus for managinga session performing transmission/reception of content data via a relayapparatus, the transmission management apparatus comprising: serviceinformation management processing circuitry configured to manage servicemanagement information in which service identification informationidentifying service content provided to each of a plurality oftransmission terminals, and service content corresponding to the serviceidentification information are stored preliminarily; serviceidentification information acquisition processing circuitry configuredto acquire service identification information of each of thetransmission terminals participating in the session; service contentdetermination processing circuitry configured to determine the servicecontent of the session, based on the service identification informationacquired by the service identification information acquisitionprocessing circuitry and the service management information, the servicecontent determination processing circuitry being further configured todetermine the quality of the content data from qualities of the contentdata that the plurality of transmission terminals can commonly use; andsession control processing circuitry configured to report sessioninformation based on the service content of the session determined bythe service content determination processing circuitry to the relayapparatus, the session information including information specifying thequality of the content data which the relay apparatus transfers to eachof the transmission terminals participating in the session.
 2. Thetransmission management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: thequality of the content data includes a quality item of a frame rate, abit rate, resolution, image quality or a color depth of image data. 3.The transmission management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: thequality of the content data includes a quality item of a sampling rate,a bit rate or a quantization bit number of sound data.
 4. Thetransmission management apparatus according to claim 2, wherein: theservice information management processing circuitry is configured tomanage service priority information in which the service identificationinformation is stored, and information related to a selection of thequality of the content data for each of the quality items, inassociation with each other, and the service content determinationprocessing circuitry is configured to determine the quality of thecontent data based on the service priority information.
 5. Atransmission system including the transmission management apparatusaccording to claim 1, the relay apparatus, and the plurality oftransmission terminals participating in a session performingtransmission/reception of the content data via the relay apparatus,wherein the relay apparatus includes: a service content managementprocessing circuitry configured to acquire and manage sessioninformation received from the transmission management apparatus; atransfer processing circuitry configured to transfer the content datasent/received among the plurality of transmission terminals in thesession; and a quality changing processing circuitry configured tochange quality of the content data transferred by the transferprocessing circuitry, based on the session information managed by theservice content management processing circuitry.
 6. The transmissionsystem according to claim 5, wherein the transmission terminal includes:readout processing circuitry configured to read out the serviceidentification information identifying the service content provided tothe transmission terminal, from a recording medium that stores theservice identification information; and communication control processingcircuitry configured to send control information including the serviceidentification information to the transmission management apparatus. 7.A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing a programfor causing a computer to execute a process of managing a sessionperforming transmission/reception of content data via a relay apparatus,the process comprising: managing service management information in whichservice identification information identifying service content providedto each of a plurality of transmission terminals, and service contentcorresponding to the service identification information are storedpreliminarily; acquiring service identification information of each ofthe transmission terminals participating in the session; determining theservice content of the session, based on the acquired serviceidentification information and the service management information;determining the quality of the content data from qualities of thecontent data that the plurality of transmission terminals can commonlyuse; and reporting session information based on the determined servicecontent of the session to the relay apparatus, the session informationincluding information specifying the quality of the content data whichthe relay apparatus transfers to each of the transmission terminalsparticipating in the session.
 8. A transmission management method formanaging a session performing transmission/reception of content data viaa relay apparatus by a transmission management apparatus, thetransmission management apparatus managing service managementinformation in which service identification information identifyingservice content provided to each of a plurality of transmissionterminals, and service content corresponding to the serviceidentification information are stored preliminarily, the methodcomprising: acquiring the service identification information of each ofthe transmission terminals participating in the session; determining theservice content of the session, based on the acquired serviceidentification information and the service management information;determining the quality of the content data from qualities of thecontent data that the plurality of transmission terminals can commonlyuse; and reporting session information based on the determined servicecontent of the session to the relay apparatus, the session informationincluding information specifying the quality of the content data whichthe relay apparatus transfers to each of the transmission terminalsparticipating in the session.